The Patriots dynasty of the 2000s rivals the
greatest in NFL and pro sports history. And in my view, it's the greatest sustained success over a long period of any team in any sport that has featured free agency and a salary cap.
saw first hand how tough it is to stay on top when I was with strong Vikings and Titans teams in the late 90s and early 2000s. There's the draft that has the best teams picking at the end of every round and the waiver system that gives the worst teams first crack at released players.
Division winners face the toughest schedules in the following season, including plenty of primetime games where other teams give you their best shot to try and knock off the champs.
Most damaging of all to the top teams is free agency, the salary cap and the payroll pressure that comes with success and having lots of star, Pro Bowl caliber players. Winning teams can't remain intact as they did in my early, pre-free agency/salary cap years in the NFL.
As long as the owner agreed to increase the payroll as necessary in those years, teams such as the Steelers, Dolphins and Raiders in the AFC and the 49ers, Cowboys, Redskins, Vikings and Rams in the NFC were perennial playoff teams and Super Bowl regulars.
Then in 1993, free agency and the salary cap brought a system where GMs and coaches had to make choices of which star players to retain as you couldn't keep a team with eight Pro Bowlers intact for very long. In recent years as playoff quarterbacks hit the $20 million- plus per year jackpot, something had to give in other positions.
We see the effects today with the Seahawks after Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman, Marshawn Lynch, Earl Thomas and Bobby Wagner got paid big bucks contracts. Over the past two years, Seattle could not retain players such as Golden Tate, former Super Bowl MVP Malcolm Smith, Chris Clemons, Red Bryant, Byron Maxwell and Brandon Browner.
This player attrition seems to have caught up with the Seahawks, who stand at 4-4 at this season's mid-point (but are still capable of a late season run as they did last year).
The Patriots also have lost excellent players to free agency and the cap through their successful run. Star players such as shutdown corner Ty Law in the early dynasty years, then Wes Welker in 2013, Logan Mankins in 2014. Since last year's title run, departures have included starting corners Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner, along with run stuffer Vince Wilfork and nifty runner/receiver out of the backfield, Shane Vereen.
But as one of the three remaining unbeatens, the Patriots haven't missed a beat.
Making the money work
One thing that has helped their salary cap [much more]
